I love to surf. I love to travel. The great thing about these 2 loves is that they go hand in hand. I’ve gone a little bit further than most people though, and made these passions my life. I moved to Australia’s Gold Coast and set up a surfboard rental company that endeavours to bring together, all the services the travelling surfer needs.
The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they’d like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.
“I wish I was a little bit fitter for this holiday”, so many of my clients tell me when returning their surfboards. This is the number 1 desire of the travelling surfers who use my services. The want a higher level of surfing fitness for their holidays. It makes sense really. When you go on a surfing trip, you end up surfing 2 – 3 times a day, which will probably equates to 4 – 6 hours a day in the water. This you do consistently over a period of 5 – 10 days. It is a lot of surfing. No matter how much you surf at home, you will be surfing more when on holiday.
So what is the best way to get fit for a big surf holiday while you are busy back at home, with all the pressures and distraction every day living brings? We believe there are 3 things you should do. The first 2 should be part of your long term commitment to personal health and fitness and the last is aimed at giving you a real fitness boost before you go on holiday.
General endurance is critical. You have to have a base level of aerobic fitness to surf. Otherwise you won’t be able to paddle out past the breakers, paddle into a wave or breath through a hold down. Further, with this fitness comes a level of confidence, this is critical for surfing.
You need a little more than basic endurance though, you need water endurance. Have a look at the best surfers and swimmers in the world. They glide through the water, seemingly effortlessly. This is because they have a great feel for the water. They know how to move their body so it is moving efficiently. This is so important in the water as we are inately inefficient in what is really an alien environment.
So to cover off this requirement, you should be swimming or surfing at least twice a week, every week of the year. Do not leave it till a month before your holidays, it is impossible to develop water fitness in such a small span of time. If you love surfing, you will love the water. Make it a part of your life. Then, in the month leading up to your holiday, increase you workload by 1 or 2 sessions a week and make your sessions much more intensive. This will give you a little fitness boost pre-arrival.
The second thing you need to think about is your core strength, balance and flexibility. People don’t understand how important this is, especially when you increase your level of involvement. When you have a good core fitness and level of flexibility, your body holds together better and recovers quicker. That leaves you better prepared for your next session.
For me, yoga is the answer here. I have a yoga program specifically designed for surfing which I do as often as I can. Whenever I get bored with what I am doing, I get into my yoga routines. This helps me with my post surf recoveries, flexibility, core strength and balance. Not a bad bundle from one set of exercises.
Keep in mind also that surfing constantly distorts your body away from its natural position of balance and health. The act of paddling for example hyperextends your back. And think about all the contortions you put it through in any wipeout. Thats the other thing that Yoga does really well. It helps restore your body back to its natural and healthy posture, despite the rough and tumble of the waves.
That takes care of your day to day fitness programming, keeping your body in reasonable shape for the waves any day of the week. Once you have that sorted out, all you need to do in the weeks leading up to your holiday, is some functional surf specific training. Functional training is training which has been designed to cater for a specific function. In our case the function is the fitness requirements of surfing. So you need a fitness program that focuses on strengthening the specific muscles you use in the water and on your surfboard.
To embellish, you’re reasonably fit and flexible because of the healthy outdoors lifestyle you lead. However, in recognising the additional load the surfing holiday is going to put on your body, you give it a short and sharp boost right where it needs it, so you can cope better and recover quicker fofrom any session in the water. Which is exactly what you want on holiday as your next session is only hours away.
I hope this helps you prepare for your next surfing trip where ever it may be. We all know training can sometimes be a bit of a drag, just remember how much more fun those surfing days are when the waves, your skill and your body all come together at the same time, so you can catch that elusive perfect wave.
Damian Papworth is the manager of Gold Coast Surfboards, a company that offers products for travelling surfers’ needs. From board hire to surf fitness, they’ll sort it out for you.
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